The old Ducati engines are pretty reliable if looked after and have a lovely lazy power delivery, which can be deceptively fast. Altering valve clearences might be best left to the pros, but if you've got good mechanical skills and a decent workshop manual it's no big deal. Belt changes are easy, and valve checks no problem. The air cooled 2 valve Ducatis are a cinch to work on. The only other maintenace issue we have found is it eats aluminum rear sprockets at a fairly regular rate so we switched to steel and that seems to have cured the problem. His 750SS has nearly 26K miles on it and he is on his third valve adjustment and second set of belts. For a 2 valve motor like the 800SS you should be able to get them adjusted in the $300-350 range every 6K to 8K miles. The biggest maintenance item on the Duc is valves and belts. The second generation SV650 (2003+) has a problem with cranks and connecting rods breaking. The biggest thing he says the SV650 has over the Duc is the availibilty of aftermarket parts. He has thought about moving up to an 800SS or a 1000SS recently. The 800SS can keep up with a superstock or mildly modded SV and the 1000SS smokes the SV650. He races WERA and the 750 is down on power compared the SV650 and he has trouble keeping up with them. The 800SS is not much different just with a bit more power. It does double duty as his race bike and street bike. My son has had a 750SS for about 5 years now.
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